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Join Hustle Belt: The best #MACtion-packed blog on the Internet

Are you a fan of the great little conference that produced MACtion? We may have a spot for you here at Hustle Belt.

By Alan Rucker and James H. Jimenez Updated
A view of the Marching Chippewas and various high school bands performing on Band Day at halftime from the press box of Kelly/Shorts Stadium.
James H. Jimenez

Welcome to the application information page for Hustle Belt! Wondering what we’re about on this slice of the Internet? Let us tell you.

Hustle Belt is a place where we wait all day for Tuesday night. A place where you can keep up with your favorite Mid-American Conference teams, whether that’s in the form of news, scores, updates, opinions or original content you’re bound not to find in other places. And, of course, we’d be remiss to not mention that the Belt is a place for MAC fans of all stripes to find kinship in the thing we love most: #MACtion!

We’re all here because we love the MAC, and strive to be advocates for the best little conference in the Midwest. Some of us are aspiring journalists. Some of us are accountants. Some of us are college students. Regardless, the thing we all share in common as writers at the Belt is this: passion. As long as you’ve got that, you’re on the right path to writing with us.

Are you interested in...

  • MAC football?
  • MAC basketball?
  • MAC sports in general?
  • Online media creation in various forms, including aural, still-life and moving content?

If you are: awesome! You’ve on the way to getting a byline.

You’ll be in pretty good shape to be considered if you...

  • are a good writer.
  • understand how to use and utilize social media (and SEO).
  • have an honest desire to contribute with regularity.
  • already like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. (Though, this isn’t necessarily a requirement.)
  • demonstrate a strong devotion and passion towards the Mid-American Conference, or at least one of the MAC-affiliated teams.
  • don’t wear jorts. (This one is extremely important; jorts are bad fashion.)

Positions:

  • Contributors: What almost everybody on Hustle Belt is. Cover games, write previews, news stories, columns, fun stuff, serious stuff, and anything else that’s worth writing.
  • Sport-Specific Contributors: Not all of us like all sports. Feel like covering MAC basketball, and not touch football? Go for it! Like to cover a non-revenue sport? Go on ahead and apply! Some of our volunteers are more geared to write about one sport and not multiple sports, and that’s okay!
  • Feature Writers: Would you rather write a story about a moment, an event, or a person instead of doing news coverage? Telling stories, doing personal interviews, creating profiles, recalling history: so many things could be written about in our beloved conference! Try your hand with feature writing.
  • Multimedia Contributors: Like to take photos, make videos, GIFs or graphics and infographics? We can use your help expanding our multimedia coverage of the MAC, and we can provide you with a large, built-in audience to share your content with. Payment can be negotiated. (If you’re applying for this position, please include a portfolio of your work. Thanks!)

Need some clips?: Get started by writing a FanPost!

Interested?

First, you need to be a part of the Hustle Belt community. Once you have an SBN account, go try and comment on one of our articles. If you have to click a check box, then do so, but if you already did that once upon a time, then you’re in the clear.

If you’d like to join our team, shoot us an e-mail at hustlebeltblog@gmail.com with the subject line “Hustle Belt Application”. We won’t be able to see your application otherwise.

There are different application processes for different positions, so pay attention closely!

If you’re interested in being a contributor, volunteer or paid, write about what role you’d be interested in, why you’re interested in joining our team, a little bit of information about yourself (a paragraph), and an original 400-600 word (at least) sample to either write about one of these topics:

  • Who is the best MAC football player of all time (may be school or position-specific. Doesn’t have to be football either) and why?
  • Maybe your team won’t win the MAC this year. What will they have to do from now until next year to better their chances at making that happen?
  • Maybe your team will win the MAC this year. Why will that happen?
  • A top-20 list of who the best (any sport) players in the MAC are today. Why did you rank players the way you did? Why did you leave others off?
  • Find a game and a box score and make a recap of it!
  • Or maybe something completely different in one of those FanPosts I was telling you about.

If you’re interested in a multimedia role (podcast host, Twitch host, photographer, content creator, etc.,) we encourage you to write about why you’re interested in joining our team, a little information about yourself (no more than a paragraph), and then attach the relevant media for us to review, such as:

  • Multimedia contributor: URL to a digital portfolio or, if no link, copies of 5-10 images of your best work. For a video producer, a URL to a digital portfolio or a 2-5 minute demo reel will suffice.

That’s it! It’s really that easy.

So feel free to submit your application and we’ll get back to you if we like what we see and there’s a spot available! We’re happy you’re considering taking the step from commenter to contributor, and wish you luck in this step along the way.

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